James Patterson on ‘Cross’ Reboot With Aldis Hodge — and Turning Down Seven Figures for Refusing to Whitewash His Lead Detective
Alex Cross, the character from author James Patterson’s popular crime thriller series, is getting a refresh by way of Prime Video’s Cross. In the eight-episode mystery series written and created by Ben Watkins, actor Aldis Hodge takes over the role of the Black detective, solving crimes in Washington, D.C., alongside fellow officer and best friend John Samson, played by Isaiah Mustafa.
“In talking to Ben, I really liked the vision and what he wanted to do with it to make Alex more contemporary, more of a cop dealing with the real world right now,” Patterson tells The Hollywood Reporter of giving his blessing to Watkins for his take on the characters Patterson first created in the 1993 novel Along Came a Spider.
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Hodge is the third actor to portray Cross, following in the footsteps of Morgan Freeman, who first played him onscreen in 1997’s Kiss the Girls and again in the 2001 movie sequel Along Came a Spider; and Tyler Perry as the titular character in 2012’s Alex Cross, which bombed at the box office and led Lionsgate to scrap the preplanned sequel Double Cross.
“Tyler Perry got screwed. The director just screwed him,” Patterson says unabashedly of Rob Cohen, who was at the helm of the action thriller.
Similar to the Alex Cross feature film, Cross has already been greenlit for a second season ahead of its Nov. 14 series premiere. However, Patterson has every confidence this time in the success of the TV series, crediting Hodge for the depth he brings to the lead role. Below in conversation with THR, Patterson talks about creating Alex Cross more than 30 years ago, refusing to whitewash him and why this character is still ripe for reimagining.
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When you were first approached about an Alex Cross TV series, what intrigued you about the pitch?
Here’s an interesting thing about the Hollywood Cross stuff. When I wrote the first Alex Cross book, I didn’t have a lot of money and Hollywood came calling — knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. They offered seven figures, and I did not have a lot of money. They said, “We just want one change; we want Alex to be a white guy.” And I said, “Fuck you.” It was painful, but I did it. So we didn’t sell it right away. But a few years later, Paramount came, so we did a couple of movies with Morgan. One of the pieces here is David Ellison with Skydance. David’s been involved early, and then Amazon got involved, which was great, and I met Ben [Watkins] along the way, which was really terrific, and then obviously, Aldis came in a little later.
What made you say no to making Alex Cross white?
Because that wasn’t who he was. I grew up in a small town, Newburgh, New York. My grandparents had a very small restaurant, and the chef there is a Black woman, Laura, and she was having problems with her husband, and my family said, “Move in with us.” She lived with us for three or four years. I spent a lot of time with her family, and they were great. I liked being with her family more than my family. They were smart, the music was great, the food was great, I liked to play basketball. And then I would watch Hollywood and, in those days, there was Sidney Poitier — OK, fine, he’s dignified — and then a lot of movies with Black people with boomboxes. Really? That was not my experience in Newburgh. So I started writing about this family that I knew and the town that I knew and one of the things that Ben and I talked a lot about was the idea of Alex always being the smartest person in the room. And that was really why Morgan Freeman wanted to play him originally, because Alex wasn’t one of these Shaft kinds of whatever the hell — there’s nothing wrong with Shaft — [but Alex] solves mysteries in his head.
This series is based on the characters you created, but not any particular book. Was that your preference or was that how series creator Ben Watkins presented it to you?
It was totally my preference, but Ben would have done it anyway. I don’t like it when somebody does a take on another series that I have and they outline an eight-page thing. I don’t love that. First of all, a lot of people have already read it so, how do you do a suspense novel when people know how it comes out? The second piece of it, I think it’s really better for the creators if they can do a new thing. I think they get more emotional about it. They have more ownership. And Ben kept a lot about the books, about Alex and his family, and Nana Mama [Juanita Jennings], and Samson [played by Isaiah Mustafa in the series]. This is the best Samson by far, one hundred percent.
How so?
Well, in the movies you get two hours, and they didn’t have time to really develop Samson, so Samson was always an afterthought. But in this, he’s great. I think I’ve been very lucky, and it’s kind of a little unusual, in that we’ve had two actors play Jack Reacher. Sherlock Holmes, God knows how many people [have played him], and we’ve got three really good actors, different approaches [who’ve been Alex] with Morgan, Aldis and Tyler Perry. Tyler got screwed by the director.
Why do you say that?
The director just screwed him. The director came in, this is bizarre, but every night he would sit there and rewrite the script. So we would go out, Tyler would get the new script, which is tough, and it would be a first draft, essentially. And Tyler, when he was in Gone Girl, it was a small part, but you were like, “he can do this” — he’s a great guy. So I’ve been lucky in terms of having three very different guys, and I love all of the takes. Aldis is great. I just finished the Pacino autobiography, and Al really gets into it. He just goes deep and I feel a lot of that with Aldis. Right from the first time I talked to him, he’s like, “I’ve got to get in, I’ve got to understand this guy.” And you will see scenes where you see two or three sides of him in the same scene, which I think is really great.
What do you think Aldis Hodge brings to this interpretation of Alex Cross that’s different from Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry?
One of the things is the complexity he brings to individual scenes. You feel his mind going and changing in terms of whatever that scene is and that’s unusual. Usually, if you look at network television, it tends to be pretty much “There it is, that’s that scene,” but you see him working and doing what great actors do, which is respond to the moment. You’re doing it a bit, like with really good interviewers where they ask questions based on what you said, not just, “Well, here’s the nine questions, thank you very much.” With Aldis, you see that he’s changing as he goes through the scene and that’s what really good actors do.
How much time did you spend on set?
Oh, no, I don’t do the set shit. I’ve done it. This is a joke, but when we did Kiss the Girls, everybody was very nice to me. But I soon found out that on the movie set, generally, the writer ranks somewhere below the caterer. They know why the caterer’s there. And they don’t know why [I’m there] so, for the most part, no. It takes too long. It’s just too slow for me. I could be writing three more books. But I did read every script, every rewrite. I got all the dailies, so I stayed involved in that way.
What stood out to you most about Ben’s vision for this series?
I think taking Alex from what he is in the books, which is for a little different audience for the most part, and really bringing him more up to date, especially in terms of the role of the police in big cities now, the controversies, and really making it real. Also — and it’s in the books to some extent, but it wasn’t in the movies — the conflict between his family. It’s really a big thing in this series, right from the opening scene, this conflict between his family and his life as a cop, and it’s big and all the way through this series you feel it. And then with Nana Mama, who kind of raised Alex and Samson to some extent. You’ll see more of that even in the second season.
Alex Cross is your most successful series and one of the top-selling detective series overall. Why do you think that is?
I think that people make a connection both in terms of him as a cop and as a human being, as a dad, as a lover sometimes. There’s a real person there. Somebody did some research at one point, and they said that they found out that sometimes, and the brain just does this, the relationship we have with a book character that we’ve been reading about for years, or even a TV character, can be as strong as our relationship with family members because we’ve found out so much about that character. Our mind doesn’t care, it’s like, “Oh, I love Alex.” I think that’s a piece of it.
What’s another novel or series of yours that you’d like to see adapted that hasn’t been yet?
Jane Smith. Jane Smith is sort of my second favorite character. And we actually have a series coming on Max. Renée Zellweger’s in it. It’s really good — not as good as this. (Laughs.)
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Cross is now streaming all eight episodes on Prime Video. Read THR’s finale interviews with creator Ben Watkins and star Aldis Hodge.
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